Real Life
Sail Away Sweet Sister
Monday, 24 December 2012
On mercy and flickering light. Merry Christmas!
Friday, 2 November 2012
All Souls
Tuesday, 23 October 2012
"If we're really engaged in mindfulnesss while walking along the path to the village, then we will consider each step we take as an infinite wonder, and a joy will open our hearts like a flower. enabling us to enter the world of reality.
"I like to walk alone on country paths, rice plants and wild grasses on both sides, putting each foot down on the earth in mindfulness, knowing that I walk on the wondrous earth. In such moments, existence is a miraculous and mysterious reality. People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognise: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child--our own two eyes. All is a miracle."
Thich Nhat Hanh - The Miracle of Mindfulness p. 12
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Saturday, 13 October 2012
On throwing shoes
I just love the moment when, after having literally killed his - enemy? sparring partner? - after having shot him, nailed him and otherwise destroyed him, the guy on the left takes off his shoe and throws it at the other! Hilarious. Can't quite grasp why it makes me laugh so much, but find it very funny.
Friday, 14 September 2012
Monday, 27 August 2012
Disclaimer (an example of non-ambivalence :)
Friday, 24 August 2012
Talk
Thursday, 23 August 2012
Enneagram Two, or The Roots of Ambivalence
Sunday, 5 August 2012
On Theory and Practice
Thursday, 26 July 2012
Everguide
Saturday, 21 July 2012
Men Loved Wholly Beyond Wisdom
Have the staff without the banner.
Like a fire in a dry thicket
Rising within women's eyes
Is the love men must return.
Heart, so subtle now, and trembling,
What a marvel to be wise.,
To love never in this manner!
To be quiet in the fern
Like a thing gone dead and still,
Listening to the prisoned cricket
Shake its terrible dissembling
Music in the granite hill.
Sunday, 15 July 2012
RSCM Canberra Chorale sings new Australian Anthems - Compilation 2012
Monday, 9 July 2012
Thunderstorm
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Thinking of those cherubims with sleepless eyes... of the Lord, standing amidst us, in flesh and blood. Just look up the text.
M.
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
Things are not what they seem (a riddle)
Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Adam Lay Y-Bounden (re-take by Richard)
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Merton on 'The General Dance'
"...the Lord plays and diverts himself in the garden of his creation, and if we could let go of our obsession with what we think is the meaning of it all, we might be able to hear his call and follow him in his mysterious, cosmic dance. We do not have to go very far to catch echoes of that game and of that dancing. When we are alone on a starlit night; when by chance we see the migrating birds in autumn descending on a grove of junipers to rest and eat; when we see children in a moment when they are really children; when we know love in our own hearts; or when, like the Japanese poet Basho we hear an old frog land in a quiet pond with a solitary splash -- at such times the awakening, the turning inside out of all values, the "newness," the emptiness and the purity of vision that make themselves evident, provide a glimpse of the cosmic dance.
For the world and time are the dance of the Lord in emptiness. The silence of the spheres is the music of a wedding feast. The more we persist in misunderstanding the phenomena of life, the more we analyse them out into strange finalities and complex purposes of our own, the more we involve ourselves in sadness,absurdity and despair. But it does not matter much, because no despair of ours can alter the reality of things, or stain the joy of the cosmic dance that is always there. Indeed, we are in the midst of it, and it is in the midst of us, for it beats in our very blood, whether we want it to or not.
Yet the fact remains that we are invited to forget ourselves on purpose, cast our awful solemnity to the winds and join in the general dance."
Happy dancing! Will you join me in a reel?
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Trees, where you sit (Solmet)
Thursday, 24 May 2012
The here and now in the raindrops
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
It is already here --- let me feel it - by Leunig
Is cut or cracked or broken
Do not clutch it
Let the wound lie open
.
Let the wind
From the good old sea blow in
To bathe the wound with salt
And let it sting.
.
Let a stray dog lick it
Let a bird lean in the hole and sing
A simple song like a tiny bell
And let it ring
Monday, 21 May 2012
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
"Charity beareth all things"
As soon as it becomes clear that "I" cannot possibly escape from the reality of the present, since "I" is nothing other than what I know now, this inner turmoil must stop. No possibility remains but to be aware of pain, fear, boredom or grief in the same complete way that one is aware of pleasure. The human organism has the most wonderful powers of adaptation to both physical and psychological pain. But these can only come into full play when the pain is not being constantly restimulated by this inner effort to get away from it, to separate the "I" from the feeling. The effort creates a state of tension in which the pain thrives. But when the tension ceases, mind and body begin to absorb the pain as water reacts to a blow or a cut.
Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity
Friday, 4 May 2012
Falling into Thy will
This is not quite adequate though,
Friday, 27 April 2012
Delalande: Super flumina Babilonis (part 1)
2 In salícibus in médio ejus, * suspéndimus organa nostra
Courtesy of Edward Ross
Thursday, 26 April 2012
Open thou the eyes of my heart
open Thou the eyes of my heart,
that I may hear Thy word
and understand
and do Thy will,
for I am a sojourner upon the earth.
Hide not Thy commandments from me,
but open mine eyes,
that I may perceive
the wonders of Thy law.
Speak unto me
the hidden and secret
things of Thy wisdom.
On Thee do I set my hope,
O my God,
that Thou shalt enlighten my mind
and understanding
with the light of Thy knowledge,
not only to cherish those things which are written,
but to do them;
For Thou art the enlightenment
of those who lie in darkness,
and from Thee cometh
every good deed and every gift.
Amen.
This is a prayer St John Chrysostom composed for reading the Bible.
I breathe it as I am going ahead.
Pray for me too.
M.
Friday, 20 April 2012
A Stupid Limerick for the Whirring Minds
And plotting to steal some pills for his meal
Was sitting upright
Was thinking “all right”
And suffered from measles and wheal
Thought you might enjoy a bit of rhymed silliness dear Club :)
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Memory as constant revolution
Thomas Merton
I take this to mean that we need to constantly re-invent or experience. Life is then not a hostage to past events or constantly reoccurring thoughts, and the mind is cleared out to have the opportunity to experience the present properly. Like much of FUC logic, this seems paradoxical, and yet I think it is the only proper attitude to hold in order to feel the possibility of each moment as fully sacred - even the crap moments too for that matter. Life's not all beer and skittles, but it does need to be experienced without hindrance from past programming.
Monday, 16 April 2012
Whatever it may turn out to be
"Belief, as I use the word here, is the insistence that the truth is what one would "lief", or wish it to be. The believer will open his mind to the truth on condition that it fits with his preconceived ideas and wishes. Faith, on the other hand, is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be". Alan W. Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity.
Monday, 9 April 2012
Noli Me Tangere
Lazarus' Sister
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Adoro te devote, latens Deitas
Poem for Holy Saturday
Jesus knew something of the glory he was called to – we simply do not.
We do not know where our loved ones have been taken to and we want them back.
The pain of separation is intense, as it was for Jesus’ friends after they lost him.
We may not forget that the Eucharistic meal that we eat commemorates a departure:
a wrenching, tearful separation.
Your grief is your own, all the days of your life.
Let no one deprive you of it, not even out of love.
Pain is inseparable from love; that is a truth we must live with.
It is a proof of our true inner reality, a judgement of ourselves,
as to how and with what courage we face and accept that truth.
Gerard S Sloyan(1919- )
Friday, 6 April 2012
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Come Round
Monday, 2 April 2012
Monday, 26 March 2012
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Surprise sandwich
Make of that what you will!
Tuesday, 20 March 2012
Monday, 19 March 2012
The message gets clearer, or Kitchen Talk
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Saturday, 17 March 2012
Prt 4!!!!
It is the mission of the Word and the Spirit, from the Father, in the depths of our own being. It is a majesty communicated with us, shared with us, so that our whole being is filled with the gift of glory and responds with adoration.
This is an extraordinarily high conception of our own reality, and yet he makes it clear that we do not create it for ourselves - that we recognise it in contemplation and that it is only to be grasped in contradistinction to our understanding of the falseness of our egoistic selves as we build them up in what Rohr would no doubt label as the first half of life container. And it is in letting go of this false self that we come to understand our true reality as utterances of God.
And I promise there are no more posts. A kiss on all of your foreheads as you sleep the last wee hours of night....
Merton part 3
When I consent to the will and the mercy of God as it 'comes' to me in the events of life, appealing to my inner self and awakening my faith, I break through the superficial exterior appearances that form my routine vision of the world and of my own self, and I find myself in the presence of hidden majesty. It may appear to me that this majesty and presence is something objective, 'outside myself'. Indeed, the primitive saints and prophets saw this divine presence invision as a light or an angel or a man or a burning fire, or a blazing glory upheld by cherubim. only thus could their minds do justice to the supreme reality of what they experienced. Yet this is a majesty we do not see with our eyes, and it is all within ourselves. It is the mission of the Word and the
Merton part 2
I shall be lost in him: that is, I shall find myself...
Merton on discovery of the real self
God utters me like a word containing a partial thought of himself.A word will never be able to comprehend the voice that utters it.
But if I am true to the concept that God utters in me, if I am true to the thought of him I was meant to embody, I shall be full of his actuality and find him everywhere in myself, and find myself nowhere. I shall be lost in him
Thursday, 15 March 2012
Monday, 12 March 2012
Enfolded in... alb :)
Thursday, 8 March 2012
The Bright Field
to illuminate a small field
for a while, and gone my way
and forgotten it. But that was the pearl
of great price, the one field that had
the treasure in it. I realise now
that I must give all that I have
to possess it. Life is not hurrying
on to a receding future, nor hankering after
an imagined past. It is the turning
aside like Moses to the miracle
of the lit bush, to a brightness
that seemed as transitory as your youth
once, but is the eternity that awaits you.
R.S. Thomas
What I really like about this poem is the break between verses - such an eloquent pause between 'hurrying' and 'on'! The other thing, of course, is the sentiment that eternal life is here and now if we take notice of it. One of my top ten favourite poems.
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Lenten illuminations: less is more
Sunday, 4 March 2012
Unconditional Love
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Trevor Hoyne
Trevor was a troubled searcher after truth, a man born in London during WWII to dominant parents. His father died early and his mother overwhelmed him with suffocating love. He worked with Tom Keating (a different one!), the rogue fine art faker in his early years, and became an art restorer. He married a wonderful German woman, and they moved to Australia and he worked at the National Gallery, but he became very ill through past excesses in life (heavy drinking and smoking) and had to retire early.
Trevor's post-work years were his belated attempts to make sense of it all and he was a brave man who read much, meditated much and maintained a child-like sense of humour and love despite his sadnesses. He drifted off to Indian religion, becoming a devotee of Sai Baba - not my cup of tea but he was clearly trying to escape his straitened English roots. His daughter, Hannah, said to me today that he had not wanted to leave yet, so tonight in the meditation I asked him to accompany me and to leave in peace when the final gong sounded. I felt honoured to have him with me on this journey. Requiescat in pacem.
Friday, 2 March 2012
On dependency, or The end of the red bubbles
The text below is from the book I quoted a couple of months ago, "Women and desire", by Polly Young-Eisendrath. Interesting approach that allows to see clearer. Italics are mine:
Thursday, 1 March 2012
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
The Divine Present
Monday, 27 February 2012
When I became a Christian, by Adrian Plass
Tell me what I’ll suffer in this world of shame and sin.
He said, your body may be killed, and left to rot and stink,
Do you still want to follow me?
I said Amen - I think.
I think Amen, Amen I think, I think I say Amen,
I’m not completely sure, can you just run through that again?
You say my body may be killed and left to rot and stink,
Well, yes, that sounds terrific, Lord, I say Amen - I think.
But, Lord, there must be other ways to follow you, I said,
I really would prefer to end up dying in my bed.
Well, yes, he said, you could put up with the sneers and scorn and spit,
Do you still want to follow me? I said Amen - a bit.
A bit Amen, Amen a bit, a bit I say Amen,
I’m not entirely sure, can we just run through that again?
You say I could put up with sneers and also scorn and spit,
Well, yes, I’ve made my mind up, and I say, Amen - a bit.
Well I sat back and thought a while, then tried a different ploy,
Now, Lord, I said, the Good book says that Christians live in joy.
That’s true he said, you need the joy to bear the pain and sorrow,
So do you want to follow me, I said, Amen - tomorrow.
Tomorrow, Lord, I’ll say it then, that’s when I’ll say Amen,
I need to get it clear, can I just run through that again?
You say that I will need the joy, to bear the pain and sorrow,
Well, yes, I think I’ve got it straight, I’ll say Amen - tomorrow.
He said, Look, I’m not asking you to spend an hour with me
A quick salvation sandwich and a cup of sanctity,
The cost is you, not half of you, but every single bit,
Now tell me, will you follow me? I said Amen - I quit.
I’m very sorry Lord I said, I’d like to follow you,
But I don’t think religion is a manly thing to do.
He said forget religion then, and think about my Son,
And tell me if you’re man enough to do what he has done.
Are you man enough to see the need, and man enough to go,
Man enough to care for those whom no one wants to know,
Man enough to say the thing that people hate to hear,
To battle through Gethsemane in loneliness and fear.
And listen! Are you man enough to stand it at the end,
The moment of betrayal by the kisses of a friend,
Are you man enough to hold your tongue, and man enough to cry?
When nails break your body-are you man enough to die?
Man enough to take the pain, and wear it like a crown,
Man enough to love the world and turn it upside down,
Are you man enough to follow me, I ask you once again?
I said, Oh Lord, I’m frightened, but I also said Amen.
Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen; Amen, Amen, Amen,